ExecutiveMeetingMinutes

Executivemeetingminutes

IEEE Daytona Section

Executive Committee Meeting
11:00 AM – 12:00A M May 2, 2009
Halifax River Yacht Club
Daytona Beach, Florida

Attendees: Roger Grubic, Tracy Wichmann, Al Jusko, Charlie Husbands, Ron Gedney, Dr. Jianhua Liu, Dr. Thomas Yang and Dr. Ilteris Demirkian.

Not in attendance: Dr. Hugh Ward, Dr. Tim Wilson and Dr. Jane Owen.

Financial Status and Budget

Tracy Wichmann handed out the financial report showing the balance for the Section and the SRT project. As of May 1, 2009 the Section balance was $4716.13, the balance for the SRT project was $2150.34. Questions were raised about how the IEEE rebate was calculated; e.g. how much for section meetings, affiliate meetings. Tracy mentioned we need a minimum of 2 meetings for a Chapter to receive rebates from the IEEE. There was discussion on creating a budget for Computer Society Chapter based on rebates.

Action: Roger Grubic

Student Involvement and Support

The student grant for the student robotics competition was also discussed. It was agreed that the 2010 budget would reflect a grant similar to this year.

Action: Dr. Liu to provide the needed budget amount.

Dr. Liu suggested the student presentation to the section be moved to October or November meeting. Existing April date is too close to finals and March may be too close to the robotic competition date. It was also agreed that the section would pay for up to four meals for the student speakers. Also brought up was to have more student friendly section presentations. It was suggested to include the officers of the student chapter in the officers list in SPARKS.

Action: Dr. Yang and Dr. Liu to coordinate meetings and dates.

After much discussion on how to improve student attendance at section meetings, Tracy agreed to discuss with the Halifax Yacht Club the idea of a cheaper evening meal, perhaps pizza or a buffet.

Action: Tracy Wichmann.

It was suggested that perhaps student meetings at ERAU could draw upon local firms such as Harris or Motorola to discuss employment needs and hints for interviewing, etc.

Action: Dr. Liu

Meetings

It was suggested that a section meeting honoring Engineering Week in February be done in coordination with other local professional science and engineering groups.

Action: Dr. Yang

For a future section meeting, Ron Gedney agreed to talk about the “Future of Automotive Electronics”.

Action: Dr. Yang to schedule

IEEE Daytona Section

Executive Committee Meeting
4:30 PM – 6:00 PM October 18, 2007
Conference Room LB134 Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
Daytona Beach, Florida

Call to Order: The meeting was called to order at 4:30 PM by the Section Chairman Charles Husbands. Attending the meeting were: Charles Husbands, Roger Grubic, Tracy Wichmann, Ron Gedney, Dr. Thomas Yang, Dr. Jianhaua Liu, and Dr. Hugh Ward.

Treasurer’s Report: Tracy Wichman the Section Treasurer presented the Treasurer’s Financial Report through the end of September 2007. Tracy indicated that the Section is solvent and that the funds and expenditures are on-target. A discussion occurred on the Section’s funding to the ERAU Student Branch for the design and development of the robotic entry for SouteastCon 2008. A motion was made to cap the expenditures for this activity at $1500. The Executive Committee voted approval of this level of funding for this project.

Small Radio Telescope Project: Dr. Ward who is the principal investigator on the proposed SRT Project indicated that because of funding concerns in the Volusia County School System his employment with the Seabreeze High School will probably not be extended beyond his projected retirement date of December 2008. He indicated that he would like to remain as the principal investigator on the Project but would like to propose that the hardware procured for the project is assigned to the IEEE Daytona Section rather than Seabreeze High School. The Executive Committee agreeded with Dr. Ward’s decision and requested Ron Gedney our Life Member Chairman to inform the IEEE Life Member Foundation of our desired change in venue for the SRT, in the LM Foundation proposal.

Slate of Section Officers for 2008: A proposal was made at the last Section Meeting to ask the existing officers to extend their term of office through 2008. A letter was sent to each of the current officers to determine if they wanted to stay in their current post through 2008. Each of the officers indicated that they would be happy to continue in their current position. The exception was Roger Grubic who asked that another member be selected to take his position as Membership Chairman. The officers at the Executive Committee Meeting voted to approve the existing officers as candidates for IEEE Daytona Section officers for 2008. This slate will be presented at the October Section Meeting. Additional nominations will be accepted by letter between the October and November Meetings. Nominations will also be accepted from the floor at the November Meeting and the slate will be voted on at that meeting.

Life Member Trip: It was indicated that on additional Life Member Meeting is necessary before the end of 2007. Two options were presented by the LM Chair. One would be a LM/Student Roundtable sometime before the end of the year. The other choice would be a LM trip to meet with Dr. Riggs of the Physics Department at Stetson in Deland. Stetson currently has a SRT of the type we are seeking funds for from the LM Foundation. It would be nice to get an opportunity to speak with Dr. Riggs and discuss some of the applications and problems that they might have encountered in assembling and calibrating their SRT. Charlie Husbands said that he would contact Dr. Riggs and attempt to set up a visit before the end of the year. Perhaps in November. Ron Gedney will coordinate notifying the Life Members of the trip.

Membership Discussion: Roger Grubic our Membership Chairman has been closely monitoring the membership picture in the Section. The problems with membership are rather straightforward; there is little Electrical Engineering Industry in the Daytona area to draw from. One way to help this problem is to increase the current IEEE members in the area who are inactive in Section activities. One way is through developing affinity groups that might closer meet their technical needs than the general programs presented by the Section. This approach might include personal calls to inactive meetings, or notifying them personally by email. A second approach is to periodically have a well planned technical lecture at ERAU in the early evening, to try to draw students from the University and working engineers that can’t stay in the city for an evening meeting, or may have problems driving after dark. It appears to the chairman that it is easier to try to keep a current member active than have them drop off the rolls and recruit their replacement.

Meeting Dates: We reviewed the proposed Section Meeting dates for first half of next year. The currently planned events and dates are:

November 29, 2007 - Dr. Mark Law, "From Macro to Micro to Nano Electronics"
January 24, 2008 - Dr. Danplant, "Neural Networks Applied to Finance"
February 28, 2008 – Date Currently Open
March 27, 2008 - Dr. Yvan Fernanoez, "Spitzer Telescope Program"
April 24, 2008 – Date Reserved for Student Branch Presentation

Computer Society Chapter Membership: Dr. Wilson has been working on organizing a Computer Society Chapter in Daytona. This Chapter will be an affiliate to the Daytona IEEE Section. Dr. Wilson has signed up ten of the twelve required charter members and feels that he should have the process well in hand by the beginning of the year.

Student Chapter Status: Dr. Liu reported on the current status of the Student Chapter at ERAU. They are organized and have started to plan for the Robotic Challenge in Huntsville, AL this spring. Dr. Liu indicated that many of the parts purchased last year can be reused this year so the funding level set by the Section should not be a problem. There was some concern about communications between the Student Branch and the Section. Their website has not been updated since March 2006, and I don’t believe the Section has a list of the current student officers. A suggestion was made to help them with a small stipend to maintain their website, but no action was taken on this action.

Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 6:00 PM.

            Charles Husbands
            Chairman, Daytona IEEE Section
            chusbands@ieee.org
            386.760. 7163